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October 25
1900s-1950s *1911 - Fred Merkle's 10th-inning sacrifice fly scores Larry Doyle to give the New York Giants a 4–3 victory over the Philadelphia Athletics in the World Series. The victory cuts the Athletics lead in the Series to 3-2. *1927 - Heinie Groh retires after being released by the Pittsburgh Pirates. He signs to manage in the minors. *1937 - Casey Stengel is signed as the new manager of the Boston Bees. *1943 - Brooklyn Dodgers manager Leo Durocher signs his 1944 contract, which calls for a base salary of $20,000 plus $5,000 for every 100,000 fans over 600,000. *1955: **Baseball great Branch Rickey steps down as general manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates and moves into an advisory role. Joe L. Brown, son of actor Joe E. Brown, replaces him. **The Cleveland Indians trade Larry Doby, the first black player in the American League, to the Chicago White Sox for Chico Carrasquel and Jim Busby. *1956 - Chicago White Sox manager Marty Marion resigns and will be replaced by Al Lopez. 1960s-1990s *1960 - The Houston Colt .45s announce that the team has hired Gabe Paul as GM. Paul will clash with majority owner Roy Hofheinz and will leave the following spring for Cleveland. *1965 - Leo Durocher becomes manager of the Chicago Cubs, replacing head coach Lou Klein. *1973 - The Chicago Cubs trade six-time 20-game winner Ferguson Jenkins to the Texas Rangers for third baseman Bill Madlock and utility man Vic Harris. Meanwhile, the San Francisco Giants trades three-time home run champion Willie McCovey, a Giant since 1959, together with a minor leaguer to the San Diego Padres for pitcher Mike Caldwell. *1978 - Gaylord Perry of the San Diego Padres becomes the first pitcher to win the Cy Young Award in both leagues. Perry cops the National League honor with a 21-6 record and a 2.72 ERA. 1980s-1990s *1981 - Steve Yeager and Pedro Guerrero hit consecutive home runs in the seventh inning, leading the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 2–1 victory over the New York Yankees in Game Five of the World Series. *1983 - Chicago White Sox pitcher LaMarr Hoyt, who led the American League with 24 wins but whose 3.66 ERA was not among the league's 15 best, wins the Cy Young Award, beating out the Kansas City Royals Dan Quisenberry and the Detroit Tigers Jack Morris. *1985 - The California Angels announce that they will not offer seven-time batting champion Rod Carew a new contract for the 1986\\season, effectively ending his 19-year career. Carew finishes with 3,053 [[hit (baseball)|hits and a .328 career batting average. *1986 - At Shea Stadium, the New York Mets rallied for three runs with two outs in the 10th inning against the Boston Red Sox to win 6–5 and push the World Series to a decisive seventh game. The tie-breaking run scored on Boston first baseman Bill Buckner's error on Mookie Wilson's slow grounder. *1987 - In a World Series in which each team never lose a game in its home park, the Minnesota Twins won the World Championship behind starter Frank Viola and closer Jeff Reardon beating the St. Louis Cardinals, 4–2 in Game Seven. The franchise's last championship came in 1924 as the Washington Senators. *1995 - Atlanta Braves pitcher Steve Avery threw six innings of three-hit baseball and reliever Pedro Borbón, Jr. came out of the bullpen for his first appearance in 19 days to save a 5–2 victory over the Cleveland Indians in Game Four of the World Series. *1996 - Frank Torre, the brother of New York Yankees manager Joe Torre, receives a heart transplant after months of waiting. Frank was a recipient of a World Series ring as a member of the Milwaukee Braves when they beat the Yankees in 1957, and his brother Joe will make him a gift of a WS ring that's 39 years newer after Game Six of the 1996 Series. *1997 - In the World Series, pitcher Chad Ogea gets two hits with two RBI and scores one run while also earning the win as the Cleveland Indians force a seventh game with the 4–1 victory over the Florida Marlins. 2000s *2000 - At Shea Stadium, the Yankees defeated the Mets, 3–2, behind five pitchers and one home run by Derek Jeter in Game Four of the World Series. *2003 - As the World Series headed back to Yankee Stadium, pitcher Josh Beckett, on three days rest, threw a complete game shutout, allowing just five hits, to give the Florida Marlins its second World Championship in 11 seasons with a 2–0 victory over the New York Yankees. Beckett was named Series MVP. This was the 100th World Series game ever played at Yankee Stadium as the Marlins became the first opposing team to win a Series championship on the field at Yankee Stadium since 1981, when the Los Angeles Dodgers did it. *2005 - In the first World Series game played in the state of Texas, former Houston Astros Geoff Blum won the longest game in WS history with a tiebreaking two-out solo home run as the Chicago White Sox beat Houston 7–5 at Minute Maid Park to move within a win of a sweep and its first WS title since 1917. The 14-inning marathon lasted a total of five hours and 41 minutes. The previous longest game was 4:51 when the Yankees beat the Mets in 12 innings in Game One in 2000. This matched the longest by innings, a Babe Ruth complete game for the Boston Red Sox against the Brooklyn Robins in Game Two of the 1916 WS (at 2:32). The 43 players used by both teams also was a Series record, as were the combined 17 pitchers and 30 runners left on base. Births *1869 - Jack Doyle, player and manager (d. 1958) *1889 - Smokey Joe Wood, pitcher (d. 1985) *1893 - Vic Aldridge, pitcher (d. 1973) *1917 - Lee MacPhail, Hall of Fame executive *1923 - Bobby Thomson, All-Star outfielder (d. 2010) *1923 - Russ Meyer, pitcher (d. 1998) *1951 - Al Cowens, outfielder (d. 2002) *1952 - Roy Smalley, All-Star infielder *1952 - Rowland Office, outfielder *1954 - Tito Landrum, outfielder *1955 - Danny Darwin, pitcher *1956 - Andy McGaffigan, pitcher *1965 - Steve Decker, catcher *1971 - Pedro Martínez, All-Star pitcher *1974 - Joe Nelson, pitcher *1978 - J.J. Davis, pitcher *1979 - Tony Torcato, outfielder *1980 - Clint Nageotte, pitcher Deaths *1941 - Bill Phillips, player and manager (b. 1868) *1981 - Pete Reiser, All-Star outfielder (b. 1919) *1991 - George Brunet, pitcher (b. 1935)